Workers at South Africa’s Implats demand 10 percent rise; Lonmin waits for …
“Financially it looks really bad, and it is really bad,” Cadiz said.
Lonmin, whose shares have lost nearly a quarter of their value during the strike, has said it is negotiating with its banks to reschedule debts that fall due at the end of September.
Wildcat strikes and protests spread to two gold mines last week, where they were quickly resolved, but predictions South Africa is in for more labor unrest have shaken investor confidence.
On Sunday, Implats platinum mine spokesman Johan Theron reported its 15,000-plus workers are demanding another 10 percent pay rise.
Theron told The Associated Press that the company already has paid a 10 percent salary increase in April, two months earlier than agreed.
“We’ve just received another request from the interim workers’ committee, now asking again for 10 percent,” he said.
Strikers closed Implats for six weeks earlier this year in a violent and illegal strike that saw one worker shot and injured. The unrest spread to a neighboring community where protesters looted and destroyed the shops and stalls run by foreigners.
Implats fired all its 17,200 workers and then selectively rehired some. It said the strike cost it R2.8 billion ($3.5 million).
South Africa holds 80 percent of global platinum reserves and produces nearly 75 percent of world needs. Platinum is used in jewelry and catalytic converters that lower vehicle carbon emissions.
Lonmin says it hopes miners will return to work Monday as agreed under a peace accord brokered by South Africa’s government and signed by the three main trade unions. But those prospects are gloomy since the deal has been rejected by the militant upstart union and some 3,000 rock drill operators who shut down operations with the strike that began Aug. 10.
Lonmin strikers say they are holding out for a 12,500-rand ($1,560) monthly take-home pay that would double their salaries.
Category: Africa News
